Northern Beaches: Cost of living pinches in the insular peninsula
New data examining the average household income needed to live comfortably in various part of Sydney has detailed the eye-watering salaries required to live in some suburbs.
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Turns out it can be tough living on $300,000 a year. It all depends where you live, rather than how you live.
The image of the Northern Beaches is that residents’ biggest problem is finding parking for their Range Rovers so they can get a matcha latte before heading to the beach.
But the reality inside one of Sydney’s most expensive communities is proving different, as the cost-of-living crisis and skyrocketing interest rates hit home.
A Facebook request for how to make your weekly budget go further has divided people into those mocking the tribulations of life on $300,000-plus and those struggling to pay massive mortgages.
So The Saturday Telegraph asked social demographer Mark McCrindle to analyse the reality of paying for a life on the “insular peninsula”.
“The Northern Beaches is one of the highest SES (socio-economic status) areas when measured by wealth and income,” Mr McCrindle said.
“But it is one of the most expensive areas in the country.”
Data from mortgage broker Aussie shows that the average mortgage in the Northern Beaches council area, which takes in Manly to the south and Palm Beach to the north, is nearly double that of the rest of the country.
An average homeowner in the Northern Beaches has a mortgage of $960,000, while the rest of the country’s average is $514,000.
That means the average homeowner in the Northern Beaches is paying $5535 per month to repay their loan.
And that, Mr McCrindle said, is why those in the Northern Beaches are struggling just like the rest of us.
“While it at first glance seems absurd that households on $200k-plus are struggling, it is the reality in those areas,” he said.
New data from McCrindle Research, that looks at the average household income needed to live comfortably in various part of Sydney shows that the Northern Beaches is one of the most expensive areas to live.
Across four randomly selected suburbs in the north, south, east and west of the city, the research shows that Marsden Park is among the cheaper areas to live, with a before-tax household income of $172,024 required to service an average mortgage and live comfortably there.
Residents of Caringbah need to earn $229,045 to get by, while those living in Turramurra require a higher salary of $322,780.
Paddington residents need an income of $357,883 to service that suburb’s average mortgage of $2.8 million.
But in the Northern Beaches, retirees to young renters are feeling the pinch of rising costs.
Balgowlah Heights homeowner and retiree Maureen Coleman said she is “lucky” to have lived on-and-off in the area for 25 years, while her adult children have struggled to purchase close to her.
“We are trying to get our daughter into this area and there’s no way,” she said.
“(Her partner) is an ambulance officer … She’s in human resources.”
Maureen estimated the pair earn just under $380,000 annually, and said that would still not be enough to buy in the Northern Beaches.
“If you were renting maybe, but not to buy, absolutely,” she said.
The area’s younger generation is similarly cynical about their prospects of home ownership, as 19-year-old retail worker Liberty Lorefice said she and her friend Zoe Compton would not be able to buy “any time soon”.
“We both still live at home but I think if we even tried to move out we would definitely not be able to live anywhere close to our parents, which is tough,” she said.
The pair, living in Manly Vale and Seaforth, and each earns less than $30,000 annually as retail employees.
Established full-time professionals also find it difficult to gain a foothold in the coveted suburbs.
Marketing manager Crystal Kranz, 40, said even renting in the area with her partner was “a bit of a challenge”.
“You have to make sacrifices if you want to live along the beach,” she said.
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Originally published as Northern Beaches: Cost of living pinches in the insular peninsula
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